COLUMN: Blackstone's Picnic is set for summer

4:52 PM,
Jun. 19, 2013

Blackstone's Picnic makes a great summer beer.

Written by

Lester Black

For thousands of years, beer has been tied to the seasons like any other agricultural product. Brewers altered when they brewed beer based on the seasons, and they changed what types of beers they brewed based on when people would be drinking it.

Before modern refrigeration technology, the warmer temperatures of summer gave bacteria more room to grow and spoil beer, forcing brewing into the cooler fall, winter and spring seasons.

The seasonality of beer even inspired one of the earliest food safety laws when, in 1553, Bavaria in southern Germany made brewing beer illegal between April and ...